Reformation is one of my brand crushes: they are a California-based clothing company that manufactures and develops their designs right out of their California factory, where every employee received minimum or living wages, health benefits (if full-time), and even a weekly massage—which, having gone through a brief period of physical labour, is more necessity than luxury. Their website also claims they are working to increase their wages from minimum to living for every employee.

To me they represent a vision of what can be possible: indulging our wants for frilly dresses and beautiful fabrics and clothes while treating people well! In addition to treating people well, Reformation is also known to care about the environment. One of their online reports claims that they limit their footprint as much as possible and “offset” what they can’t (by purchasing carbon offset credits, I assume), thus their manufacturing is carbon neutral.

And to add to all this, many of their clothing items are stunning. They’re not quite as feminine and frilly as the Christy Dawn dresses I absolutely love, but there are lots of items in there that I am constantly crushing on, and I window shop from Reformation all the time. They are one of my most frequented procrastination websites, and they roll out new designs frequently. So frequently, in fact, that from the time I wrote this post to today, I can’t find links to three of my picks—pretty ridiculous since it’s only a two-day difference.

Of course, the dresses tab is my most-frequented. And today I wanted to share the five Reformation dresses I am crushing on at the moment, in no particular order.

The Winslow Dress: This is one of their “easier” dresses; it’s relaxed, long, not too tight. You can eat in it! What won me over though is that despite the “ease,” it’s still super elegant. It could be a great dress to wear to a wedding. There are so many colours, and it can be dressed up or down; it’s simple and versatile. And do you agree? You have to love a great wrap dress. (It won’t be the only one of those on my list!)

Celine Dress: If all of these five dresses were sitting in my closet, I can guarantee that this would be the most worn one. How do I know that? Because I have one that looks just the same but it’s short-sleeved, and it’s my most-worn dress of all time. You can find a way to wear a simple black wrap dress like this to almost any occasion. It’s classic enough that it can be dressed up with heels and jewellery and the right hair, or dressed down for a summer night out to get drinks with friends—or whatever. It’s probably also the most boring one of this bunch, but sometimes the boring garments are the ones that are worn best. Not only that, the cut with this is bound to be flattering, accentuating or creating a waistline thanks to the wrap string and the skirt’s cut, which creates the illusion of larger hips, decreasing the waist-to-hip ratio.

Flash Dress: This dress screams “dancing!” Maybe sometimes it’s hard to decide what to wear out to a club or lounge in wintertime, and it’s like this one was just made for winter dancing. It’s so easy and comfortable; it takes some booties and maybe some pantyhose (it gets REALLY cold up here in Canada), and you’d be good to go, no worries about wardrobe malfunctions in sight, completely free to dance the night away. I own several “body-con” dresses in exactly this style, and they are super flattering… This one just reminds me of how badly I need a dancing night out.

Surrey Dress: This is by far my most scandalous choice. I mean, look at it! This dress has a conservative a-line cut, but there are essentially barely-covered by lace stripes that show off your skin throughout. I find something with a little contradiction like this (conservative cut but sexy/revealing material) to be much more scandalously sexy than a dress that outright shows off a lot of skin. It’s somehow a bit more dignified in my opinion… On the other hand, I have no idea where to or whether I would ever wear this. I love hiding in a crowd and finding my comfort zone in busy environments and this is definitively not a dress to do that in.

Jagger Dress: This should have been called the Nancy Drew dress because it’s such a feminine, goody-2-shoes style. And I LOVE it. I can totally see this becoming a go-to summer dress. Again, I definitely considered the comfort factor in picking my “crushes” out of all of the dresses on the Reformation website.

A few weeks ago, I stopped my job hunt and decided to settle into a routine with my remote work and to take on a larger course load with school. Having spent so many months in limbo, often overexcited or worried about one interview or the next, and feeling as though my entire life routine and even place/city of residence could suddenly change, I didn’t take a lot of time to just enjoy life. Now that I know that for the next year or so, this will be my life, and I will not need to look for another job, I can just settle into this and focus on everything good.

I can’t describe what a relief this realization has been; I feel like I can stop waiting to live and just live now. And this post is a list/celebration of the simple, accessible things that bring me joy.

— A good hike with friends. I stipulate “with friends” because I recently had an awkward experience with a member from a Meetup hiking group—generally things were fine with them, though, so this is not meant to reflect badly on the website. I love hiking and getting out in nature. Depending on the season, the same trails can look completely different, and the Bruce Trail in Ontario has over 880 Km, so exploring new sections is a favourite hobby. Winter hiking is an especially satisfying experience. I feel twice as adventurous going out when it’s snowing outside (though if you plan to do the same, please read about safety and don’t go alone).

— Writing dates with myself! I’m genuinely surprised I like this one so much, but it’s true. I feel so, so good going to a coffee shop and working on my creative writing project. I am working on a story outline, but it’s been getting pushed back because it seems like there’s always something else to do. Home is just not a place where I can leverage my focus when it comes to things I don’t have to do, unlike studying or work. Well, it turns out that going to a coffee shop does the trick; it’s just so official, and once I’m there, I can focus on my project with abandon, without feeling like there’s something else I should look up or do. It feels like I’m taking time for myself, even though it’s productive time, and finishing this project would be a win professionally and personally.

—Meditating after a Tone it Up workout (and the Tone it Up workout). Hear me out! I don’t have a gym membership, and no fancy exercise equipment (I own a Weslo bike I bought two years ago for $120 CAD and some dumbbells and a yoga mat). The Tone it Up app subscription runs at about $12 CAD per month, and it offers so much. There are daily workouts that are 20–30 minutes long, and daily and weekly schedules. In addition to that, there are guided meditations available. Sometimes I’ll go a few days without working out with my TIU trainers, and I forget how amazing I feel after one of their workouts. The combination of the vocal encouragement and the exercise moves leaves me feeling like I’ve taken a plunge into a pool of endorphins and drank it all. To turn on one of their 10-minute guided meditations after that and enhance that feeling is amazing. It’s definitely the type of thing that can turn the day around for me; the hardest part is convincing myself to actually go for the workout on those days (they’re not always easy!).

—Salads and protein smoothies because they represent the purest, truest form of self-care to me. It’s true that positive/constructive self-talk and a good attitude are realistically even more important to me, but I feel a nagging sense of pride eating a salad. And as someone who eats a lot of salads and drinks a lot of smoothies, it’s weird that I STILL get this feeling every single time. But it’s been years, and the magic is still alive. That probably has something to do with why I keep going back to my super green, super “earthy” tasting smoothies. I feel like I’ve won a competition when I eat well, and that’s a positive feeling of joy that nothing else other than winning an actual competition can give me.

—Mindful Youtube or Netflix watching. That little adjective at the beginning of this is SO important. Here’s a little tid-bit on me: left to my own devices, I fluctuate between over-control and eventually, after a crash and exhaustion, under-control. So it’s important that I intentionally create balance between work and “life,” times when I put in concentrated, hard work and times where I can take it easier and live more slowly. One way I genuinely enjoy taking it slowly is watching TV shows or my favourite videos. But that can easily turn into a binge if I’m not careful, and not only is that potential lost time that should have been dedicated to other things, but it also makes me feel really guilty. So instead, I like to plan exactly what I’m going to watch before I do: is it two episodes of Lucifer? Five Youtube videos I can chuck into a playlist? Whatever it is, I make a plan for when to stop and what to do after. And then after that, I grab a blanket and a mug of tea and rid myself of every distraction and just relax. This can be so therapeutic if done with intention and mindfulness!

I’d love to know what everyday parts of your life you find joy in. I think sometimes it takes looking over our day and finding out where we can make space to do the things we already do a little more intentionally that can make the difference between a meaningless routine and a space/time of joy. Would you agree?

It has genuinely been such a long time since I picked up a book that could keep my interest. And it’s not because I haven’t tried: With my Scribd trial, which gave me access to a nearly infinite number of books in either audio or digital format, trying is all I did. And then with the library, too. Part of it has just been because I want to read, but another reason I’ve been trying so hard to find a good story is that I wanted to introduce/continue a book segment on this blog.

Well, I’m just accepting the fact that there are a lot of books being indiscriminately published, marketed to a buzz, and then as readers we’re kind of fooled into thinking it’s because they are actually good, right? Nope! This is a slight rant, I guess, but the truth is that as an advanced reader for NetGalley, I’ve read good, well-structured, interesting, and well-told stories that went out of print just a couple months after “launching.”

So, at least we know some good books don’t get any buzz. But must the opposite be true, too? No, it doesn’t have to be, but it definitely is if my experience with reading lately is anything to go by.

I picked up The Alice Network by Kate Quinn from the library on a whim. I recognized it when I saw it in the fast-lane display shelf at my local library. It’s this month’s book club pick for one of the few book clubs I know of in my area, and it’s also emblazoned with a seal for Reese’s book club. And maybe I haven’t talked about her on this blog, but put simply Reese Witherspoon’s opinion on a story really counts for something in my books. (Pun not initially intended!)

And the premise for this one is great. Or should I say these stories, because the book technically has two stories lines and it alternates between them with each consecutive chapter. One story is set just after WWII and involves a young, unmarried but pregnant woman who runs away from her family in search of her missing cousin. Her search leads her to Eva Gardiner, a seasoned French spy, and I presume (because I haven’t read the whole book) that together they solve the mystery of the missing cousin.

The second storyline is about Eve Gardiner and how she began her career as a spy in what is the fictionalized version of the real-life Alice Network, a group of female Allied WWII spies. Interesting, right?

Well, sort of. First, I was okay with the back-and-forth for a couple of chapters, but I quickly lost interest in the 1915 time line. The 1947 time line of finding Charlie’s (the young girl) cousin had so much more urgency. I even began skipping over the 1915 chapters and found that I didn’t feel lost at all. The stories are at least for the first 100 or so pages (1/5 of the book) completely independent. You don’t have to read both at the same time to get what’s going on, at least to that point.

But by page 100, what had begun as a truly interesting story with a hook began to swivel to a stop. The characters began to engage in meaningless banter and paragraphs describing Eve’s swearing or Charlie’s newly acquired morning sickness began to feel like cheap fillers to avoid getting to the next plot point before it’s structurally appropriate to do so. As in, if the story does hold water and warrant the number of pages and words spent telling it, then it wasn’t apparent in the first 20%.

Based on several Goodreads reviews, I also wasn’t the only one who strongly preferred one of the time lines over the other. I think this is problematic because that so many people made a “choice” is a symptom of the fact that you could make a choice (duh!), which means that some readers, myself included, weren’t given a compelling enough reason to want to read both other than their strategic placement, alternating chapter-by-chapter.

Chia seeds are nutritious and a source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, fibre, and protein. But for me, they’re not easy to eat. You could put them in a glass of water or juice and then quickly down the whole thing before the seeds soak and form their gelatinous shell. But a much better way is to make a chia seed pudding bowl.

This is a great breakfast option, especially if you’ve done a workout beforehand—since it can be just a tad high in calories. It’s crunchy, thanks to the granola, and the fruit is sweet and nutritious.

You will need:

1/4 cup of chia seeds

1 cup plant milk (I used soy)

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract (I doubled this because I love vanilla!)

Note that 1/4 cup of chia seeds contains 280 calories. So if you want to (or need to based on your dietary habits) save on some of those pesky little things, consider halving the pudding recipe, or even cutting a quarter (3 tbsp of chia seeds blended with 3/4 cup milk).

Once you have your ingredients, go ahead and blend them for a minute or two. You’ll want to blend on the highest setting possible. And that’s it—that’s your chia seed pudding! But that’s not where the magic starts (or ends) for me… I personally don’t love the texture of chia seed pudding. So the toppings make all of the difference for me, and the most important, non-negotiable one is about a 1/4 cup of granola. Getting a bit of the granola crunch with every spoonful makes all the difference.

[If you do not have a blender, you do not need one! Put the ingredients in a container and shake, then place in the fridge for a couple of hours; the seeds will expand and absorb the milk. Just make sure to mix everything really well before leaving it to set in order to avoid clumps.]

Today, in addition to the granola, I added cup banana and thawed wild blueberries. But you could add any combination of complementary fruits that you would like. And then to finish, you can top the whole thing with just a little bit of sweetener. I used one tablespoon of maple syrup.

This bowl was seriously such a treat! Even though chia seed pudding is one of those uber healthy, health-nut type snacks/meals/foods, incorporating the proper textures and flavours can make a world of difference.

There are so many ways of making the pudding and this is by far my favourite. I’ve seen lots of recipes that recommend simply blending everything together, including the fruits. But having the fruits as a topping just makes this less of a boring meal and provides some variation with each spoonful.

In whatever way you can, consider adding chia seeds to your diet. They are considered a “functional” food, thanks in large part to their fibre content, which can help lower cholesterol and improve digestion. You deserve to protect yourself against cardiovascular diseases while warding off gastrointestinal problems (and remember that simple irregularity can increase your chances of developing colorectal cancers!).

It would make me so happy if you tried this recipe and then let me know what you think! Do this for you.

A challenge that comes with adopting a mostly plant-based diet is finding ways to make old favourites without animal products while still getting enough protein. In the case of these protein pancakes, it’s extremely simple, and the result was pretty tasty.

This recipe yields four medium-sized, fluffy pancakes. If you use pea protein powder (instead of brown rice protein powder), beware that you might be able to taste it afterward.

You will need:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon (yes!) baking powder

1/4 cup protein powder (either brown rice or pea)

3/4 cup frozen wild blueberries

1.5 cups water (you may need to use a little more or less)

Make sure you whisk all of the ingredients together really well, and cook as you would regular pancakes. And don’t forget the maple syrup!

ONE: The Price of Free Youtube has acquired the award-winning documentary called “The Price of Free.” Incidentally, the documentary is FREE, and I really recommend you take an evening to watch it. It’s about child slavery and labour, particularly in India. I was appalled to see HomeSense wares are made through child slave labour. HomeSense of course carries products of individual companies, but they should have a much better vetting system in place than one that allows malnourished, imprisoned and abused children to work for free for 16 hours a day to make discount goods. One of the main messages of the documentary is that the price of cheap and discounted goods is paid by someone even if it’s not the consumer.

TWO: Uber Eats I have only used Uber Eats twice before, but it’s not until today that I realized what a total life saver it can be. Even though I’m pretty good about making frozen entrees and meal prepping for those just-in-case days where I don’t feel like cooking (or I’m too busy) even defrosting and plating a ready frozen meal can take 15 minutes or more. So today, I had a few things that needed taking care of urgently, and I decided to use Uber Eats, and it just took away that little bit of stress because it was just one less thing to take care of.

THREE: Uber Simple Meals See what I did there? No, not the company uber, just the word. I’ve learned how to make a microwave Thai rice curry soup, and it’s amazing. Instead of steaming or sautéing the veggies (one cup shredded kale and 1/2 cup shopped red bell pepper), I put them in a bowl with one tablespoon of water, covered, and microwaved until they were soft. Then I added 1/2 cup of black beans, one cup of rice, and 1/3 cup of coconut cream and water to make it into a soup. For seasoning, I used 1/2 tbsp of thai curry powder and salt (my curry powder is unsalted). So good!

FOUR: Spinning With Netflix It’s a little over a year ago that I bought the tiniest Weslo stationery bike (see it here). It’s amazing what it’s done for me in that time, and how much I’ve used it. Recently though, I’ve been wheeling it out to the TV and watching Netflix while cycling. Right now, I’m watching a mix of shows. My last watched is Cable Girls, but I’ve also been trying to get through a boring spot in Wanderlust (which started with a fun premise, but has sort of come to a halt now). With Netflix, you could easily go on for 20+ miles within two episodes, so it’s a great way to make an indoor cycling workout a lot more fun.

FIVE: The Global News Podcast by the BBC I have been listening to this podcast nearly daily for over a year now. It’s amazing because I really feel that they curate some of the most important breaking news from around the world into two 25-minute (or so) episodes on weekdays, and usually just one on each weekend day. It’s extremely informative, and it makes me feel connected to the issues that matter most. While much of the news can be negative, I try to detach myself from negative emotions to keep my day (or morning) from spiralling. Self care is still important! I use the Pocket Casts app to listen.

A little bit of a casual writing post today! (But not a New Year’s resolution post, if that’s what the title made you guess.) These are just a list of things that I basically think about doing more of anyway, but I’d like to set it in stone (or blog) and make a “from now on” list.

Lately, I’ve noticed how much of my mental space and how many of my thoughts are spent on things I’d like to own, buy, services or activities to purchase, etc. I’m ashamed to say that based on my thoughts, I have to admit that I self-identify as a consumer more than anything else. Rather than investing in making the best of what I have, my mind is constantly attuned to getting or doing the next thing. So of course, I’m here to atone for that a little by making a list whose that I 100% intend on integrating.

Some of these things seem super small, but they would be genuine game-changers.

Set up my work space every day:// I clean and organize my work space maybe once a week. That means that for about six days out of every week, my desk doesn’t look nice and inviting (yes, I only manage, like, three hours of clutter-free per week). And the truth is that that’s just a little sad considering how much I actually enjoy having a well-organized and nicely set up desk to greet me in the morning—or even after my lunch break. So it might take a few minutes each day, but I just want to set up and beautify this part of my life where I spend so much time.

Tone it Up three days a week with three hours of cardio (per week):// This seems like such an overreach even to me, but honestly, I pretty much already do a similar amount of exercise. I absolutely love how exercising makes me feel, and I cannot overstate how much of a change-maker Tone it Up has been for me the last three months. That’s definitely another blog post. But I’ve gotten more fit and doing a TIU work out is like taking an endorphin shower. So the reason I’m putting it here is that while I already exercise, I want to do it in a more predictable and organized way.

Write more:// Writing is something I legitimately enjoy. I am ashamed to admit about the prejudices about this activity that sometimes literally stop me from logging on and writing a post, whether here, in a journal, or even on a creative writing project (and yes, I do mean logging on to my computer). But writing is something that I enjoy doing, and something I even take for granted. I think I could be very proud of myself if I kept this blog consistently updated, and I’d like to do that, though for this particular intention, it doesn’t matter to me where I write or if it’s every day.

Have completely free time every day:// I have often spent my time either studying, working, thinking about my next job, etc. most of the time. That’s all fine, but I want to create the space for something new. And I know that with better planning and making a commitment, I can treat myself to guilt-free free time each day.

Go somewhere new once a week:// This seems so intuitive and easy, but there are so many weeks where I’m in such a routine that I basically go nowhere new. I’ve decided to go somewhere new and do/try something new every week. I don’t want to give into some totally contrived touristy-type activities/experiences either, but to actually go places and do things that feel both authentic and interesting to me. Actually, ideally, these places would be free to go since my goal is to get out of the whole “what to spend money on next” thought-stream.

Is there anything else you recommend I put on my list? I want to know. How do you turn the focus on the good and keep yourself from becoming consumed with all of the “opportunities” to spend money that surround you? After it dawned on me how much time spend “window shopping” mostly thanks to Instagram clothing ads, I realized that this is a serious problem. Too many of my thoughts are focused on buying and too few on just being doing where I am, with what I have and have access to.

Also, here is the photo of a vegan black bean burger patty that I made. I am working on perfecting the recipe, so how I made this particular batch (it’s just okay) won’t make it on here.